more or less lol. it's already nerve-racking. i always forget what learning a sport feels like. the female teacher (thank god she's female) and the one guy who's helping me out, they're strict but understanding and they do dish out the praises every now and then, even if i don't feel like i'm doing that well. i'm still surprised i managed to sign up despite my lack of good japanese :P maybe i just go luckeh....lol.
the kyuudo place is in what looks like a huge warehouse and might've been at one point. the floor is made of dirt, with white lines that make up a large rectangle kind of like a school gym floor. there's random tools up against the walls. no windows though, at least not that i noted. at the far end there are 6 (?) rather small targets. there's a couple straw, practice targets on the side as well, which i've been using as a beginner.
the arrows they use have real feathers, at least they look that way, but other than that they're fairly similar to western archery arrows. the bows are far different though of course, at least in shape and size, longer and more slender, though these might also be made of fiberglass rather than bamboo, at least based on their appearance.
practice is tough, but fun. i tend to mess up a lot and forget, and it does seem that while i might be decent with the western bow, that training has def messed me up here lol. and i can only imagine it'll get tougher starting wed as i learn to release the arrow. it's crazy how much the japanese pay attention, perfecting step by step the techniques and what not, but it's also pretty cool and professional-looking :) and well...the final target i'll be aiming for is much farther than anything i've aimed for in my life. so, i suppose refining over and over again will be pretty damn important lol. especially since everything is different than the western style. there's much more attention to a kind of ceremonial waking in the beginning, to the different positions of every body part. pretty crazy stuff lol. i haven't even injured or released the arrow yet, and yet i'm nervous simply holding the arrow that close to my face-as it goes against everything i've been taught not to do haha. oh well, wish me luck in not injuring myself >_< i hate being a weak human like that with those trivial kind of fears.
in any case, at the end, they all step up very formally and shoot at the targets. i suppose their hits are counted, or so it seems. today was a bit amusing as the teacher missed all 4 and said "i won't cry!" i had to secretly LOL inside. i suppose even masters have their off days. at least in real life. anyways, as the end, they un-string their bow (also differently than western bows)by pressing the top tip against an enforcer and leaning the bottom part on their left leg to apply pressure enough to lift the string off. :) can't wait till i'm made to do that. i hope that thing is fool proof. but i digress again. so, they put away their arrows, wrap up their bows. a couple people take brooms and sweep the dirt back into the mound where the targets are. the rest of us take bigger brooms and trail them behind us as we walk the length of the floor. even that menial labor isn't too bad, and i'm just glad that im someone who doesn't mind it lol. then we stand behind the teacher bow a few times, clap our hands together and say our ending farewells with "thank you for your hard work".
better remember to practice every day, even if it feels like there's too much to remember. in any case, my rice should be about done and i'm sipping on some warm lemon vit C drink-i've rather gotten used to the sweet, bitterness lol.
as for other notes, i woke up late today since i was up late last night due to my inability not to talk to a certain person...it'd been a while since i'd been up that late. i really gotta figure out how to block out the sunlight...x_x in any case, i woke up late, did some laundry (curse my stupidity for washing All my socks), and left to go find more suitable wear for kyuudo. luckily that search ended well, but unfortunately i couldn't draw any money from the atms. curse japan for having atms that close at certain random hours...x_x.
i could go out to get tasty food, but then, i'm not exactly in the best shape anyways...i really worry too much...as long as i am happy and can function doing daily tasks it should really be okay right? x_x and hell, i don't Really wanna have to go anywhere tomorrow anyways lol. tho it's unlikely i'll stay up as late as i did last night hah hah hah...
my arms will probably be sore tomorrow. yay. but i really oughta keep practicing. besides, anime can really only keep me interested for so long until i feel the need to get up and move around. it's perfect. :)
wed's will be tough from now on 'cause of school, then club, the kyuudo. but it's all worth it in the end. now that i've finally taken some real advantage to being in japan. and it luckily the gods are smiling on me with such a good opportunity so close. thats why i can't give up ;)
that's about it. not sure whether to be happy or not about the increasingly cold weather.........lol.
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